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Postcards to Modi: Bihari women and ‘Man ki Baat’

'A band of about 20 village women laid siege to the letter boxes at Patna's general post office. They came armed with 25,000 post cards, all addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "This is the Save Mahila Samakhya-National Postcard Campaign," one of the women explained to the curious onlookers. "HRD minister Smriti Irani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi want to extinguish the most successful women's empowerment programmes in India. Mahila Samakhya (MS) has reached out and empowered countless numbers of women over the past 25 years. In Bihar, our federations and women's groups associated with the Mahila Samakhya programme reach out to over 2 lakh women and 2 lakh adolescent girls. In 11 states across India, MS covers 22 lakh women and 10 lakh adolescents from the most disempowered sections."...

The women's voice is direct and unambiguous, said Vibha Devi from Muzaffarpur. "Modiji can give Bihar his 'sava lakh crore' package later. First give Bihar's two lakh women and two lakh girls their rightful funds of Rs 13 crore, which should have been disbursed in April 2015," she said.

Sharda Devi from Bettiah declared, "Just a few examples of what we have done over the years. Bihar Mahila Samakhya has trained 5,000 girls in karate, trained 500 women as masons who have built 50,000 toilets through rural Bihar, stops domestic violence and solves family problems in 72 nari adalats. Bihar Mahila Samakhya innovations such as 'Beti Janam Utsav' to address the declining sex ratio and teaching girls to ride bicycles were later adopted by the state government."

Sumitra Devi from Sitamarhi chimes in, "Now the prime minister wants to shut down what has been empowering lakhs of women and adolescent girls in Bihar. Why doesn't he mention this in his Bihar rallies? What's the meaning of quietly stopping our funds and shutting down Mahila Samakhya programme?"...'